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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] A Greek Language Question

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: MarianneLuban AT aol.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] A Greek Language Question
  • Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 18:58:00 +0100

On 05/08/2004 18:38, MarianneLuban AT aol.com wrote:

I hope some people here are more knowledgeable in Greek than I am because I want to make certain of some passages from the Greek text of Josephus. It has to do with his reference to a certain "Amenophis", a wiseman, universally accepted to be a well-documented actual person from AE, Amenhotep son of Hapu. When Josephus first mentions the wiseman he writes, "Amenophis patros de Paapios" and then later "Amenophis ton Paapios", both translated as "Amenophis son of Paapis. I know that
"patros" means "father", but I can't understand the presence of "de" in the phrase. Also, I think "ton" can mean "the son of" but also just plain "of". Anybody?


"de" means "and" or "but" but is positioned after the first word following it. So "Amenophis patros de Paapios" means something like "Amenophis and of the father (of) Paapis" - assuming that "Paapios" is a somewhat unusual genitive form from Paapis. "ton" is a form of the article, but it doesn't make sense here because it is accusative, but "Amenophis ... Paapios" may mean "Amenophis [son] of Paapis", with "son" implied which is quite common. Of course the whole thing could be more clear from the Greek context, especially as Greek word order is very free and different phrases can interleave with one another.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






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